Five months after
by CurlyQues
Summary: Five months after the Daimatou Enbu, two girls are trying to find a future in a world that doesn't give second chances. OC story. Reviews are much appreciated!
1. Chapter 1

**Mattie-ish POV:**

The streets were frosty as winter had already hit Blueport, one of Fiore's larger ocean cities. It was December 23rd, and even the sea was silent as most residents had fallen asleep earlier in the evening. The silence was only interrupted by the sound of crinkling cellophane, as Mattie Pfieffer lay sprawled across a vacant dock, opening a package of crackers.

Usually, the smallish girl was seen next to another, Jeanette McIntosh. One could never confuse them for siblings, however; as they bore almost no resemblance beyond their below-average heights. Mattie stood up reluctantly and began walking away from the dock and the sea, with her patchwork jacket billowing in the winter gusts. She pulled the hood of the jacket, which seemed too light for the weather, over her medium length curly cotton-candy pink hair. Her eyes, a deep blue, glinted in the streetlights as she briskly strolled down avenues and alleys, footsteps muffled by the soft undersides of her boots.

Another blast of icy cold wind knocked the hood off of Mattie's head and her sharp features twisted into what could best be called a grimace, and one that sent chills down even a strong mage's spine. After a five minute walk, she stopped outside a shoddy little building, with plastic covering half of the roof, and the other half appearing to be in desperate need of a carpenter. If a person was happening by, they would dismiss it as a rundown tool shed, and continue on their way. The girl in the patchwork jacket walked around behind the little shack and into a crack in the wood that held it upright. After fumbling around for a moment, she pulled a tiny key out of the crevice and used it to unlock a small door obscured by a piece of stray plastic. In an instant, Mattie Pfieffer stepped into the doorway and disappeared from the outside world.

**Jeanette-ish POV:**

It was eight o' clock in the evening on Christmas Eve and Jeanette McIntosh was standing next to her friend Mattie in Blueport's largest church, feeling quite self-conscious. Could she really be here, in the middle of this elegant room, dressed like she was? Was it okay to walk through the doors, into that sanctuary, wearing torn jeans, worn old boots, and a sweatshirt proudly showing a rip from her elbow to her shoulder? Surely those looks she was receiving, they weren't imagined. Something told her that the prickly feeling she had felt since they agreed on going to the church service, wasn't a good omen, either. Was it getting worse? Jeanette was definitely imagining that, or at least, she hoped she was.

Jeanette spared a quick glance up to (there weren't many she could look down upon, or even directly at) Mattie with her angst showing clear in her startlingly blue eyes. She was unaware of the fact that her hands were playing with her light blue hair, which spread out in an unruly manner to just below her shoulders, with a few strands in the front hanging lower than the rest. The sparsely splayed pieces of hair, along with her clothing and scrapes on almost any exposed piece of skin, gave off the impression that someone had done a poor job of shoving the thin girl into a paper shredder. With each passing moment, the knots in Jeanette's stomach twisted a bit more uncomfortably, and her pixie-like facial features became further frightened under the stuffy atmosphere of the church.

**Sting Eucliffe-ish's bad-tempered POV:**

Sting Eucliffe was in a rotten mood. Earlier this week, Master gave the top five mages in his guild; a group which he was proud to say included him, an urgent mission. The job (defeating a dark guild in the town of Blueport, a two day train ride) had been completed earlier that day, but Minerva was not going to spend her Christmas Eve riding back to the guild in a train. Sting and his partner, Rogue, sharing a hatred of all vehicles, had gladly agreed. However, avoiding the steel deathtrap also meant not being home for Christmas, and though Sting hated admitting to being soft, he missed Lector, his cat.

Just because a ruined Christmas apparently wasn't enough for the dragonslayer, Rufus Lohr, another member of the five-person team, was hallucinating or something. Even though Sting was strictly Atheist, he was being dragged into a smelly ancient church in a crowd of about three hundred old people to the eight o'clock service. Sting's protests had been completely brushed off as his team trusted Rufus' judgment—though it had been proved less than perfectly accurate—for distinguishing and locating magical presences. On top of that, the people Rufus had detected didn't exist anymore.

"You're certain that it's Filli Ad Cor that we're pursuing, correct?" Minerva groused.

"Look, I'm not completely certain, but—"Rufus' voice suddenly cut out as he began frantically looking around the sanctuary of the church.

"Did you seriously just lose the trail?" Orga Nanagear almost shouted in exasperation. A few people standing nearby shot him an alarmed look. Orga was someone who stood out, with his height of at least 6 1/2 feet, enormous muscled build, and huge spiky green hair.

"I did _not_ lose the trail; it's just that we're in a tightly packed room. I can't sense as well in here" Rufus replied, annoyance creeping into his tone. He closed his eyes and pressed his hand on his temple, which pretty much meant _back off and let me concentrate_.

Minerva glanced at the clock on the left side of the sanctuary, and smiled dryly. "It appears as if we're going to stay for the whole of the service" she retorted with a vicious glare at Rufus.

Rogue walked over to a pew in the back row of the room and sat down. Orga followed him, muttering words which probably wouldn't be considered appropriate for the circumstances under his breath. Reluctantly, Sting sat next to Orga and mentally prepared himself for the next hour. Rufus, seated right next to the aisle in case he needed to quickly pursue anyone, still appeared to be concentrating on locating their targets. Exasperated, Sting glared at the clock, willing it to go faster.

However many minutes later, Sting was pulled out of his frump by Orga harshly elbowing him in the ribs. Sting turned to Rufus, who was staring intently at a spot on the other side of the church, the far right section of pews. Rufus urgently pointed, and Sting followed his gaze to two girls, who were eagerly listening to the pastor's sermon. They weren't difficult to spot, as both wore clothing that had seen better days, sitting next to others in fancy Christmas dresses and coats. As he stared, the shorter of the two glanced towards their section nervously. Her hair might have been a different color, but Sting knew Jeanette McIntosh when he saw her. Mattie, sitting next to Jeanette, hadn't changed at all, except that her hair had grown out a bit.

Sting turned back to his teammates. He could practically see the gears spinning in Rufus' head and Minerva had a weird little half-grin. Although he had been bored out of his mind just a few moments ago, now Sting felt adrenaline pumping through his veins. Sabertooth, along with every other guild in Fiore, had been alert for the members of Filli Ad Cor for months now, and they had finally found a lead they could work with. Mattie and Jeanette didn't realize it, but the chase had already begun.


	2. Chapter 2

**Jeanette-ish POV:**

Jeanette could feel the tension in the air. Mattie was seated next to her, her fists and teeth both clenched. If her intuition was correct, that meant that Mattie could sense it too. The feeling that they were being watched, and not just because their appearances made it so they stood out in the crowd. The pastor was blessing the offering, which meant the service was nearly over. As she rose for the final hymn, Jeanette felt an overwhelming sense of relief in that they could leave very shortly, and get away from the atmosphere of the church, which now seemed dangerous.

The instant the pastor finished his benediction, Jeanette felt Mattie grab her wrist with urgency, and the two made a beeline for the doors. Mattie was almost running once they reached the double doors to exit the church and pushed their way outside. The two girls weaved through the throngs of people with haste. After twenty minutes of speed-walking away from the church, Mattie finally slowed her pace and loosened her grip on Jeanette's wrist.

"Did you see anything like that?" Mattie asked in a clipped tone.

Jeanette looked at her feet guiltily as the twosome quickened their gait.

"It's alright; I think we're far enough away. No harm done, I suppose," Mattie sighed.

Jeanette and Mattie continued walking towards the house. Without even realizing it, Mattie had led them quite a ways from their home. She didn't want to say anything, but the feeling in the pit of Jeanelle's stomach wasn't improving. Dismissing it as a stomachache, Jeanette tried to distract herself by looking at the patterns that the paving stones created on the alleys.

Suddenly, Mattie grabbed Jeanette by the arm and tugged her to the left side of the alley. Before Jeanette could even protest the move, she felt a wave of magical energy and static fly past. She heard a loud explosion, and the sound of something crumbling.

Looking towards the noise, Jeanette gaped at the destruction that the single blast of power created. The paved part of the street she had been standing on was destroyed, and she traced the line of ruined stones to the wall of a building, now with a giant hole in the side.

Mattie already was tensed in a defensive pose, and as she followed Mattie's line of sight, two men emerged. The shorter one had long blonde hair, a mask on, and was wearing a hat with plumage that Jeanette could sum up as being ridiculous. The much taller and more muscled man standing next to him had green hair which had about as much volume to it as the plumage on the other's hat. Unlike the other mages Jeanette and Mattie had run into over the past few months, these two seemed confident, and the blonde seemed almost calm.

"Orga, the plan was to talk to them beforehand…" the blonde quipped.

"They weren't going to listen anyway," the man called Orga muttered.

Jeanette could feel Mattie tense up next to her, probably reaching for her bag. "We're listening," Mattie snapped. If Jeanette hadn't known her any better, she wouldn't have realized that Mattie's tone was being used to cover up her anxiety. The girls had fought a few mages like these, but the two before them weren't behaving in the same way the others had. Was she missing something?

"You both already have a poor record," a feminine voice came from behind "Don't further tarnish it by acting out."

Jeanette quickly turned around to face three more figures. The woman who had previously spoken was wearing a feather boa and coat over her long slit-dress. She had her purple hair done in one of the weirdest hairstyles Jeanette had ever seen, with both braids and two loops off of the top of her head. Flanking the woman were two men. One had spiky blonde hair and had a scar above his right eye. The other was an inch or two shorter, had black hair falling to just above his shoulders, and was wearing a cape with a familiar emblem. _So that was why they were acting so assured…_

"Does that mean 'Quit attacking our mages' or 'You're coming with us'?" Mattie asked, irritated.

"The latter, preferably," the lady replied.

"Look, we never hurt anyone except the mages you _sent after us_—"

"We never looked into searching for you," she interrupted. "And your refusal to cooperate when two of our mages tried to ask you some questions is enough for you to be arrested. "

"_They_ attacked _us_!" Mattie cried indignantly.

"Minerva, this isn't going to go anywhere," the blonde next to her complained.

"Be quiet, Sting," Minerva snapped. She turned to face Mattie and Jeanette again, with a half-smile. "Even if you choose to go against us, you will be coming with us, conscious or not. Perhaps if you cooperate, your punishment may become less severe."

Mattie glared at Minerva and started to retrieve something from her bag. Out of the corner of Jeanette's eye, she could see Orga and the masked blonde tense up, and Sting and the black-haired man next to him each bent into aggressive stances.

Jeanette's heart started pounding against her chest, with such force that she could feel it in her throat. She was going to have to fight again.

**Mattie-ish POV:**

Jeanette shot Mattie a look that probably meant _please tell me you have something planned here._

Mattie, on the other hand, was lost in thought, calculating possible escape routes that didn't involve ruining their clothes in the sewers like their last encounter.

_Split up if things look bad. It'll be better for us to run for it and possibly not get captured… _She thought, without taking her eyes off Minerva, the girl in the black dress. _If we could possibly slip past those two over there… maybe we could make a run for it… _Mattie calculated.

Maybe she was slightly insane, but there was no way that Mattie Pfieffer was going to be dragged anywhere by a cult or whoever the five were a part of. The girl's face revealed no emotion as she pulled a metallic object out of her bag and threw it at the two… Orga and Ruffles or whatever? Surprise showed in their faces as the bomb exploded into a glittery mess. For a fleeting moment, Mattie Pfieffer wished her bag was stuffed with _real_ weapons, not glitter bombs and magic glitter wands and glitter dust that at best made you sneeze.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as Mattie turned around just a bit too late, realizing the blonde with the scar had charged her. Jeanette shot her hand out, and a in a flash of blue light the man was thrown back a couple of feet. Mattie grabbed Jeanette's wrist and turned towards the other side of the alley.

Ruffles and Orga had come to their senses (much to Mattie's chagrin, would it be too much for the glitter bombs to deal some damage?) and blocked their pathway once again, although now Ruffles had glitter-sparkles in the feathers of his hat and Orga's hair now vaguely resembled an off-color spiky disco ball. Mattie consoled herself with the fact that at least the glitter would take two or three shampooing's to completely go away.

Without having time to draw another glitter weapon from her bag, Mattie did what her reflexes told her to do. Charging Ruffles (who seemed the lesser threat); she swung her handbag back and swung it around, hitting him in the head. Ruffles' knees gave out, his jaw went slack, and the man tumbled to the ground, where Mattie hoped he would stay at least for a few minutes (she didn't carry around 20 pounds of glitter junk for no reason, her bag could deal a nasty wallop).

Unfortunately, Ruffles _had_ been the lesser threat (darn it). Orga's swung his arm around and he grabbed Jeanette's face in one hand and threw her backwards as Mattie felt the static of the blow. Jeanette was tossed backwards like a rag doll and barely managed a wobbly landing—too close to Minerva of the Weird Hair and her two sidekicks for Mattie's liking.

As Jeanette shakily stood up, her chopped hair looked even odder, sticking out at varying angles, with singed edges. The girl's face would have looked comically black like a cartoon that had just been electrocuted, except her nose was crookedly bent and gushing blood. Even worse, Ruffles seemed only dazed by what should have been a crushing blow. _DARN IT ALL, RUFFLES, YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT _Mattie's consciousness screamed as she swung her handbag at Orga, which he avoided.

_I don't have time for this_ Mattie thought as she dashed back to her friend, who Minerva of the Weird Hair and her two disciples had surrounded. She barreled into the black-haired caped person from behind, successfully knocking him off his footing, and ran to Jeanette, who was unable to block an attack from Minerva of the Weird Hair. After exchanging a few blows with the other man, the blonde, she saw Orga preparing to attack. _This is not going to work. Not at this rate,_ Mattie thought; panic narrowing her airways, making it more difficult to breathe. Mattie was not the kind of girl who enjoyed making split-second decisions, which was what she felt forced into now.

Knocking Minerva out of the way, Mattie shouted "_RUN_, JEANETTE!"

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**Oh I know, it's an awful cliffhanger with a rushed ending, I'm sorry (if anyone even reads this XD). Couldn't think of anything else.**

**Second thing: I know Jeanette's name changed, but I have decided that Jeanelle just doesn't suit my OC, nor is it a realistic name (that sounds lame, I'm so sorry, but it's true!).**

**I'll try my hardest to get chapters posted at a faster pace!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Jeanette-ish POV:**

For a split second, Jeanette wondered if Mattie had fallen off of her theoretical rocking chair, off a theoretical cliff, and into a chasm of theoretical insanity. If she hadn't earlier learned to hold her tongue even when exasperated, or maybe even if she talked at all, she would be screaming _"HAVE YOU LOST IT? WE CAN BARELY FIGHT THESE PEOPLE _TOGETHER_!"_, but Jeanette was one who rarely spoke, even if she had something to say. What scared her even more than the fact that Mattie had just spurted such utter nonsense was that she was desperate enough to believe that what she had said was a _good idea_. Mattie Pfieffer genuinely believed that splitting up would help the duo, and that maybe a 1 VS 2 or 3 battle, or even a 1 VS 4 battle (was the masked man alright?) was better than a 2 VS 5 (or 4?) battle. Even worse, the people they were fighting weren't small fries, Jeanette thought as the man with the feathery hat stood up, leaning on the wall slightly for support (scratch that, he's fine).

Looking at Mattie's face, now with a cut on her right cheek which would without a doubt bruise later, Jeanette knew that she had to make a run for it. Once Mattie was in this stage of desperation, Jeanette knew, there was no changing her mind. It was either run away from the battle or have Mattie use some means (which of course wouldn't be pleasant) to throw her from the battle.

With all this stunned reiterating on the previous plans going on in Jeanette's head, she bolted through the gap Mattie had previously formed by knocking Minerva out of the way. It sure was a good thing the other five was just as confused by Mattie's decision as Jeanette was.

If Jeanette took pride in one thing, it was that she was in good physical condition, despite her slight build. Well, maybe not tip-top physical condition, but Jeanette McIntosh was a runner, and she had muscles on her legs that almost seemed to bulge to prove it. She was already past the corner when the sound of Minerva screaming (in a notably higher-pitched tone to boot) "YOU IDIOTS! DON'T JUST STAND THERE! _GET HER!_"

Jeanette McIntosh didn't even think twice. She ran through the town, not considering which direction she was running. After what could have been two minutes or thirty, she paused to catch her breath, panting.

In the 15 seconds she paused, Jeanette noticed two things: A) She was unfamiliar with this part of town, and B) Whoever was chasing her was still in pursuit, though winded from the chase. She took off again, praying that she wouldn't get too lost as she tried to find a familiar landmark.

After a few minutes, Jeanette's luck ran out. She took a left, then a right, and found herself—at a dead end. _Oh, please, no, no… _Jeanette thought, listening to the clumping footsteps of more than one person approaching from behind. The alley she was trapped in had clearly been abandoned a while ago, as the trash cans had been knocked over, and the buildings were boarded up, even the nails looking rusty. The only possible opening was a window on the second story of a house to her right. Jeanette started to tremble and she wrung out her hands, a nervous habit she couldn't seem to break.

The footsteps slowed, almost as if her pursuers could sense her desperation and hopelessness, and two figures came into view as they rounded the corner into the alley. _At least it didn't end up being 3 VS 1, I hope Mattie's okay…_ Jeanette thought to herself as the three observed each other.

Jeanette couldn't remember either of the two's names. The blonde with the spiked hair, his name started with an S, she knew. The other one, with the black hair and red eyes (seriously, who has red eyes?) hadn't spoken or even been spoken to, so she hadn't the faintest idea of who he was.

"Well, what now, Rogue?" the blonde asked in a relaxed tone, smirking at Jeanette. At this particular moment, Jeanette wished her throat wasn't tied in a knot. She wished she had Mattie's courage. She wished she had Mattie's ability to shrug off her fears and come back with a witty remark. She wished she could them show _something_ that would make her look less like a frightened sheep. Unfortunately, Jeanette… was a bit of a frightened sheep.

"We bring her back," the black haired man, Rogue replied. He glanced back at Jeanette. Something about his gaze was unsettling, but she couldn't quite place it. Rogue seemed… nonchalant. S-something, the blonde, was probably trying to freak her out by acting really cocky and confident. Rogue, on the other hand, appeared to not have any doubt that she was in the end, going with him and his friend/companion.

"Sounds good to me," S-something said, his blue eyes catching Jeanette's and widening, which made him look extremely sadistic.

In a flash of light, Jeanette was knocked flat on her face in the snow, which probably didn't help her nose, which had only recently stopped bleeding. In desperation, she got to her feet and dodged a blast sent her way by Rogue. Jeanette thrust her hand out and blasted S-something into a wall with a blue flash. He tried to get back up again, but with a flick of Jeanette's hand and another flash of blue, he tripped. The air around Jeanette seemed to change as Rogue grabbed her arm from behind with one hand and used the other to give her a devastating blow to the head.

The snow, sky, and buildings all smeared into a blur and started to spin around Jeanette. Blindly, she spun around and concentrated her energy into a single spot. Rogue yelped, let go of her hand, and jumped back (at least, she hoped he had).

In an instant, Jeanette was airborne. She felt pressure on her back and a cry caught in her throat as she crashed into a building. Something, probably her ribs, was screaming in pain. With her sight still not completely there, Jeanette didn't realize how far she had been blasted into the air until she didn't immediately land. She fell for a few seconds and landed on the ground. It took a second, but pain shot through her leg from her ankle, which didn't seem to be bent correctly anymore.

Jeanette's vision started to darken. Two figures above her were talking, but she didn't hear them. Her entire body; back from the blow, ribs from colliding with the building, and leg from falling wrong, ached. She didn't even feel when she was roughly flung over someone's shoulder, and Jeanette Pfieffer slipped into unconsciousness.

**Mattie-ish POV:**

Mattie always hated to lose, even against tougher opponents, so she was quite frustrated when red began to creep into her vision to taint it. Mattie had tried to run away from the battle, but Minerva had used some form of magic to bring her back. In addition, fatigue was setting in after getting numerous blows from both Ruffles and Minerva. Pride was not something Mattie was lacking, though she'd never admit it.

When you have gotten to the point in battle where your opponent clearly is suffering and almost defeated, you don't normally stop fighting to give the person a breather. Mattie knew this, so she was a bit surprised when the threesome suddenly stopped attacking. She probably would have been more wary if she was thinking properly, but at the moment, Mattie was overjoyed to have at least a couple seconds to pause.

A couple seconds passed. With each instant, Mattie became more aware of her surroundings and noticed two things. Ruffles of the Fluffy Boa Hat was staring intently down the alleyway where Jeanette had run off to, as was Orga of the Hair that Looked Like a Pineapple. Secondly, she heard more than one pair of footsteps approaching from the alley. Nervous, Mattie glanced quickly at Minerva, who in turn gave her what looked like a triumphant smirk. Mattie's knees began to shake and her eyes widened as she finally got the whole picture, and three people strolled into the alley.

It would be a more accurate statement to say _two_ people strolled into the alley, actually, as the unconscious Jeanette was flung over the spiky-haired blonde's left shoulder. His eyes widened and he gave Mattie a grin which probably meant he realized just how terrified she was at this moment in time. Unwilling to show weakness, Mattie composed herself best she could, but her knees wouldn't stop shaking.

"Miss, the battle is over," Ruffles said.

Mattie, a bit annoyed as nobody _ever_ called her "Miss", was going to reply something incredibly witty back (probably along the lines of _"no, it isn't"_) when, as if in one movement; the dark-haired man pulled his katana out, the blonde took Jeanette off of his shoulder and propped her against his larger frame, and when handed the katana pressed it against her throat. _Really, that thing couldn't just have been for decoration?_ Mattie thought, as she clenched her fists.

Out of the edge of her line of vision, Mattie saw Minerva glance at Orga. Her lips pressed together, she gave him a curt nod, and before Mattie could connect the dots in her head, she was grabbed from behind and crushed against the side of the alley. She gasped as the wind was knocked out of her, and tried to twist out of Orga's death lock. Orga pinned her arms against a wall of the building and snapped something around her wrist. Mattie's vision went a bit fuzzy around the edges for a moment.

"Well, what do we do now?" Rufus asked impatiently.

There was a long pause, and Mattie would have gladly taken the opportunity to blast Orga off the face of the earth if she could have, but something was off. Her magic wasn't working, almost as if her body wasn't responding to her whims, which by now was quite out of the ordinary. She tried again, but her magic still didn't work. _The bracelet, what did it do to me?_ Mattie asked herself.

"Sting, Rogue… take Jeanette back to the hotel room. Rufus, Orga and I will… discuss matters with Mattie here," Minerva requested.

Sting gave Minerva a curt nod and Rogue ducked his head in assent. The fact that all of the others were so receptive to Minerva's demand startled Mattie. Minerva never seemed that powerful during their "battle", was she hiding something? Her stomach started to twist in anxiety.

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**Well, that's chapter 3. I'll continue to post these in hopes that someone will notice this story XD. This is a fairly long chapter for me (3 and a half pages on WORD), and I'm quite proud of myself. Probably will continue to write these and post them because it's a lot of fun.**

**Thank you for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Mattie-ish POV:**

Sting one again flung Jeanette over his shoulder, and he and Rogue started to walk back in the direction they had come from. Rufus and Minerva turned back to Mattie, and she felt Orga's grip on her arm tighten, almost to the point where it was painful. She bit her lip to keep from crying out.

_Wait a second; am I really just going to let them take Jeanette to who knows where? _Mattie thought, glancing down at her bag… where was her bag? She couldn't have dropped it; Mattie always had it over one shoulder. Mattie heard an amused chuckle and turned back to the other two, where a smirking Minerva was holding her bag (so unfair).

"You and Jeanette have a place somewhere in town. Correct?" Minerva asked, and Mattie would have given anything to wipe that sadistic grin off of her face with her 20-pound handbag.

_No, we live in the next country over, in a plastic princess house. Didn't your guild notice this during the past five months you stalked us for? _Was what Mattie desperately wanted to scream, but being brashly impolite probably wasn't the best option at this point. Instead, Mattie looked down at her feet, trying to hold her tongue. You could almost cut through the silence with a knife, and the tension was growing with every second. Minerva's lips thinned, and started to twist into a scowl as the quiet continued.

"That's fine. Orga, let go of her for a second," Minerva ordered, clearly irritated. Mattie glanced up at the woman, confused.

"Take us there," Minerva ordered.

**Sting-ish POV:**

Sting's adrenaline was beginning to ebb. They had pretty much captured the last remaining members of Filli Ad Cor (save Orga didn't do something stupid), so now what? Were they just supposed to wait patiently at the inn for Minerva, Rufus, and Orga to bring Mattie back from whatever they were questioning her about? Patience? Didn't Minerva know by now that Sting could _not_ just sit around, twiddling his thumbs, waiting for who knows how long? Rogue was a nice guy and a good partner and all that, but he was a terrible conversationalist, so Sting was dreading the next few hours. So, being the ever-impatient Sting Eucliffe, he blurted out the first thing that came into his mind.

"Hey, Merry Christmas, Rogue," Sting said with a smile.

Rogue gave Sting a look that was somewhere in between horror and confusion. "What possessed you to say _that_? Do you even celebrate Christmas?" Rogue asked.

"Not really, but it at least seemed like good luck that we found them…" Sting trailed off.

"I agree," Rogue stated, still a bit confused.

"Do you think there's a reason that they were here in Blueport?" Sting asked.

"Possibly," his partner replied.

The two walked on in silence for another couple of minutes. Jeanette didn't weigh much, and Sting had carried heavier items, but his shoulder was getting a bit tired. Sting would never admit that he'd fallen a bit out of shape since the Daimatou Enbu, but he had. _Blame The Nova's Christmas cookies. It's just the cookies, _Sting thought.

The shape of the hotel's neon lights came into view as they turned a street corner. Rogue walked up to the heavy wooden door to get into the hotel, pulled it open, and the snow outside swirled with the ring of the doorbells and the blast of warmer air. The two (three) sauntered into the lobby of the hotel, which had a fire going in the ancient hearth and a little festive Christmas tree blinking in the corner. The clock on its mantle read 10:15. As their bodies had gotten used to the colder weather, Sting noticed Rogue's cheeks and nose flushing red with the temperature of the room. The black-haired mage shook snow out of his unruly hair and tried to stomp the snow out of his shoes.

There was another presence in the room, and Sting looked up to see a female employee gaping at them (specifically the unconscious form of Jeanette) from behind the desk. He flashed his winning smile at her and she flushed, although not from a change in heat. Rogue shot Sting a look of disgust and walked to the staircase to head up to the rooms. The white dragonslayer followed his partner up the stairs.

**Mattie-ish POV:**

Mattie trudged along in the snow, wishing something would fall from the sky and knock her captors into oblivion. Unfortunately, the laws of the universe did not seem to be on her side, and so she continued towards the little broken down house that for the past month or so had been home. She was at least consoled by the sound of Minerva tripping every so often on her God-knows-how-many-inch-heels.

"You'd better not be leading us on a wild-goose-chase," Orga threatened, agitation clear in his voice.

"I'm not, we're almost there," Mattie replied.

"You said that ten minutes ago," Minerva groused.

_It was _five _minutes, tops, and maybe we'd be going faster if you hadn't felt the need to wear those shoes today,_ Mattie thought to herself with anger. After another minute of walking, the foursome stopped in front of a rundown… shack. Mattie's captors weren't sure if she was playing a cruel joke on them or not.

"Well, now what?" Mattie asked, a scowl twisted on her face.

Rufus and Orga turned to Minerva, who asked "Do you have a suitcase?"

Mattie stared at Minerva and she repeated the question. "Do you have a suitcase?"

"Jeanette and I share a bag… does that count?" Mattie asked, confused.

"Whatever. You have five minutes to pack," Minerva stated.

_WHAT? Pack WHAT?_ The girl screamed to herself. Surely Minerva couldn't be serious. What on Earthland should she pack? Suddenly, something came to mind. Minerva and her pack of followers… were planning to _take her and Jeanette with them_. _Away_ from Blueport. Even though she had that figured out, Mattie stared blankly at the three who were watching her with varying smirks.

"Four minutes, I believe," Rufus quipped with a grin.

Mattie dashed inside the house and grabbed a messenger bag that Jeanette had carried with her on the day that they'd first met in Paddington, a smaller city in the middle of Fiore. The bag (thank goodness), was charmed to have more space on the inside. Mattie Pfieffer promptly began stuffing every single article of clothing the girls owned which (thank goodness), wasn't much. Even with the extra space the charmed bag had to offer, she couldn't pack everything. Mattie stuffed Jeanette's two journals and knitting utensils into the bag along with a few wands she had found. She glanced at the Christmas stockings hung from the ceiling as there wasn't a fireplace, but decided there wasn't room. Both sleeping bags were tossed in the bag, along with an old, patched teddy bear Jeanette wouldn't sleep without, even though the girl was seventeen. The rocking chair they had just saved up enough to buy from a thrift store sat sadly in the corner, as did the Christmas ornaments they had made just in case there someday was enough money to buy a tree.

After packing all the necessities, Mattie stood in the center of the small shack that had started to grow on her in spite of the leaks in the roof. Mattie Pfieffer was not a sentimental person, but something about the house made her feel off now that she was leaving it behind. Rufus walked in the door and stared at the girl, obviously there to tell her that it had been five minutes. Without looking at him, Mattie turned and walked out the door, where Minerva and Orga were waiting outside.

Not a word was spoken, but the condescending looks the two gave her spoke volumes in themselves. Orga roughly grabbed her arm again, and they started walking away from the house.

The three hadn't gotten a hundred feet from the house when Mattie noticed something was wrong. First of all, there were only three people in their group. Secondly, something smelled off. Mattie spun around and saw Rufus walking towards them. Behind him, the air crackled and wavered as bright orange flames were spreading behind him, starting to envelop the little shack that was her home.

**Rogue-ish POV:**

Sting was hitting the after-services Christmas party in the hotel game room, and Rogue was left alone in the room with Jeanette. He pulled a travel novel that he wanted to finish out of his suitcase and started flipping through the pages to find which page the bookmark had fallen out.

Turning on the lamp behind him, Rogue lay down on the bed and turned on the lamp on the desk beside him. The plan had been to sleep five people in the room, which was the absolute maximum the double-bedroom would hold, even with the couch. Looking at Jeanette, who was currently taking up the entirety of the couch, he wondered how that was going to work out.

Something about the girl seemed weird. He studied her features, which were twisted into a frown as she lay unconscious, but Rogue couldn't quite place what it was. After a few minutes, he realized; Jeanette had a scar on the right side of her face the last—and first—time he'd seen her. To the best of his memory, Rogue recalled that it had rendered Jeanette unable to open her right eye all the way, and that it had been a quite distinguishing feature, going down her cheek and almost to her mouth.

The fact that the scar was gone startled Rogue a bit, but he wasn't surprised. Filli Ad Cor was a freaky bunch, so he supposed he shouldn't be so weirded out by the disappearance of a feature. Still, something about Jeanette still seemed wrong, but he couldn't quite place it.

With a crash, Sting entered the room with red, white, and green beaded necklaces around his neck. His hair was even more frazzled than usual and he had a huge grin on his face. The smell of alcohol hit Rogue's nose and he grimaced at his loopy partner.

"Are you drunk, Sting?" Rogue questioned the blonde, exasperated by his behavior.

"Nah, I just had a drink or two downstairs. Fun party," Sting laughed. _Sure_ he'd just _"had a drink or two"_.

Rogue rolled his eyes and his partner went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. He glanced at Jeanette again, and frowned. Something was definitely off.

"Mfffph yrr prrt mmmph" Sting said, poking his head out of the bathroom door with a toothbrush in his mouth.

"I do _not_ need to get a social life, I already have one that doesn't involve raves," Rogue snapped.

Sting's head disappeared into the bathroom and he spat the toothpaste into the sink. "Suit yourself."

Rogue let out an annoyed sigh, shut the book, and closed his eyes.

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**Well, there's Chapter 4! …I can't believe how quickly I wrote this, so my apologies for any errors in grammar or spelling. Thank you guys and see you with Chapter 5!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sting-ish POV: **

Rogue was reading his book, Jeanette was still knocked out on the couch, and Sting was bored out of his mind. He had turned on the television about fifteen minutes ago and was still channel-surfing. The five-second intervals of television noise were apparently starting to get to Rogue.

"Haven't you looked through all the channels already?" his partner complained.

"No," Sting replied.

"Yes you have. That cheesy Christmas special has gone past four different times,"

"Maybe they're playing it on four different channels?"

"Just like the four different channels playing _Rambo II_ on Christmas Eve? Can't you find something else to do?"

Sting turned off the television with a groan. He glared at Jeanette's form on the couch, which hadn't even twitched since they'd set her down two hours ago. _This is all_ your _fault,_ Sting thought. With an exasperated expression, Sting stared off into space. The blonde was about to give in to desperation and ask if Rogue had an extra book (_reading_, the horror) when his other three companions barged in.

Rogue finally looked up from his novel and Sting was about to ask what they could _possibly_ needed Mattie for two hours for when he noticed the atmosphere and stopped himself. Minerva looked as if she had reached the _I-would-murder-a-small-child-if-it-was-legal _level of anger. Orga was carrying a girl's bag which he was looking at with contempt, as if he wanted to stomp on it and toss it out the window. Rufus seemed somewhat calmer, but his face was red and swollen as if some animal had attempted to claw his eyes out.

Rogue stared at Rufus' maimed face and asked, "Didn't you guys seal off her magi—"

"_FINGERNAILS_," Minerva seethed. Sting noticed that there were also scratch marks on Orga's arms.

Orga gave Sting a look that said _don't ask what happened_. The look was in vain, however, because Minerva had her mind set on telling Sting and Rogue _exactly_ what had happened.

"So we took her back to where _they_ were hiding out," Minerva said in a tense voice. "We had just left after she packed when Rufus here decided it was a good idea to rub the whole thing in by _burning her house down_,"

"They were never going back anyway—"Rufus objected.

"Then Orga decided that it was _just hilarious _and decided to start _laughing_—"

"Um… her facial expression was a bit funny—" Orga mumbled sheepishly.

"So what did dearest Mattie do? She _launched herself at Rufus here_ and _dug her fingernails into his face_." Minerva complained. "We had to _knock her out_. HAVEN'T YOU TWO IDIOTS LEARNED BY NOW THAT YOU _DON'T DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT _TO THAT MADWOMAN?!"

Orga and Rufus took interest in their shoes. Minerva waved her hand and Mattie fell out of the air in a flash. She didn't look much worse than when Sting had seen her last, but that wasn't saying much. Mumbling insults at Mattie (which I could not put into speech to keep this a K+ rating), Minerva stalked over to the couch where Jeanette was. She spun around to glare at Sting and Rogue, who shrank back.

"And _this_. This is MY _COUCH!_" Minerva screamed, pulling the girl off the couch and leaving her in the middle of the floor. The black-haired woman grabbed her suitcase and stomped to the bathroom, leaving the four remaining members of the team to gape at each other in confusion and terror.

After a couple minutes, it was decided unanimously to stuff both girls in the hotel room's closet, and to barricade the door shut with the combined weight of their suitcases. Finally, at 1:00 in the morning, Team Sabertooth went to bed, with Minerva content on the couch and the other four members cowering terrified in the beds they were sharing.

**Mattie-ish POV:**

Mattie Pfieffer woke up with a massive headache. She was disoriented and had no idea where she was and why it was so dark and stuffy and why there was no room to move. The darkness of whatever cramped place she was in was quiet enough for Mattie to hear herself breathe. Someone else was also in the space, and their breath was coming out in uneven, ragged gasps. Without looking, Mattie could probably deduce that it was her friend Jeanette, but she wanted to make sure. However, there was no telling who could be listening.

If Mattie Pfieffer hadn't been tied up rodeo-style, with duct tape over her mouth, she wouldn't be panicking. Where on Earthland was she and why was it so dark? Twisting over, which shouldn't have been as difficult as the task turned out to be, Mattie could see light coming in through a crack on the floor of where she was. It was shaped like the bottom of a door.

Judging by the current surroundings, Mattie Pfieffer was in a closet with Jeanette. Now that she knew that, all there was left to do was wait. Minutes passed, and then what felt like hours. A little while longer, Mattie heard people stirring. Someone let out what sounded like a yawn, and then got up.

"Guys, it's like… say 9:00. I'm going to get some breakfast," a voice said.

"Oh wait up, I'll go with," another voice groaned.

"Me too" a third person chimed in.

"9:00… should we check on those two?"

"Nah, they're fine,"

At the moment, Mattie most certainly did _not_ feel fine. If the duct tape hadn't been over her mouth, she would be screaming at them. She considered _hmm_ing through the tape, but decided it would sound pathetic. After the silence for so long, the footsteps sounded like a parade stomping past.

It was silent again. _OH COME ON DON'T LEAVE ME HERE_ Mattie screamed inside her head.

Mattie supposed she had to wait a while again. She sighed and tried to drift off to take a nap, but the duct tape was chafing her wrists and ankles and she had a headache for whatever reason.

A while later (hours, days, who was counting?), the sound of a door opening was heard and the parade reentered the room.

"Checkout's at 11:00,"

"Yeah, but the train leaves at 10:30,"

"Let's just finish packing…"

"But… our suitcases… we used them to shut off the closet…"

"Oh well, I suppose it's about time to check up on them,"

_IT'S ABOUT TIME!_ Mattie thought. An idea occurred to her at that moment. What on Earthland were they going to do to her when they opened the closet doors? Mattie played dead.

The door opened and Mattie's body shifted. Through her closed eyes, Mattie could sense the change in lighting. A rough pair of hands dragged her out of the closet by her arm. It was quiet for an instant.

"Um, they're both still unconscious… are they really alright?"

"Does it matter? We can get them medical attention if they need it once we get back to town,"

"Guys, how are we going to get them on the train like this?"

There was dead silence. Mattie could practically hear the gears in their heads rusting as her captors realized what situation they were in. Most train conductors didn't want dangerous passengers on their trains, and having two unconscious girls was like waving a red flag.

"Can we stuff them in the suitcases and smuggle them onboard?" one voice ventured.

"_Please_ tell me that was a joke," another chastised.

"We're a legal guild, aren't we? Can't we just take them on board?"

"No, we've been under scrutiny for the past five months. For good reason too,"

"Well, it's _them_. I'm pretty sure that under the circumstances, they'd even let a dark guild take these two back to the capitol…"

"You're right… let's just not worry about it,"

Mattie felt the same pair of hands grab her, and the duct tape was roughly ripped off her mouth. She bit her lip to keep from showing any signs of cognitive functions. The duct tape was ripped off of her wrists and ankles as well.

In the same instant that Mattie thought _maybe I could make a run for it_, she was flung over what seemed like someone's shoulder. _Darn it all, I was so close._

The group began walking down the hallway. A voice, probably the woman from the night before, was talking to the hotel employee and returning the keys. They got outside and began the trek to the train station. The late December air was frigidly cold and Mattie didn't even own a winter coat, but Mattie better in that people were probably staring at the group of seven while they were going to their destination. She could hear her captors talking happily ahead of wherever she was, which meant that she was being carried by someone in the back of the procession. To get her bearings, Mattie opened her eyes and glanced around.

Once her eyes adjusted, she realized that A) They were on Meadow Avenue and B) That whoever was carrying her was _not_ in fact at the back of the procession. The man with the black hair was staring at her. She stared back. His eyes narrowed.

"Sting, Mattie's awake," he said.

"Is she really? Sleep well, Miss Pfieffer?" a voice asked.

His tone was cocky and mocking which drove Mattie crazy. She glared at the man with the black hair instead. He gave her a look of contempt and she looked away, uncomfortable.

"She's just the little ray of sunshine, isn't she, Rogue?" the voice, Sting, mocked.

"That isn't the term _I_ would use, personally…" Rogue replied.

Her plan foiled, Mattie sulked (she didn't really have a plan, but she would have thought of something). She felt useless, unable to even look Rogue in the eye. If only she could weigh say 50 pounds more than she did, so Sting would have more difficulty carrying her.

"Lovely weather, isn't it? We got two inches of snow last night," Sting laughed.

Mattie's frown deepened, as they both knew that she was _not_ enjoying the "lovely weather", and was probably freezing without a coat. She had put on her pocketed jacket, but that was thin material. Right now though, she was frustrated that he'd make a comment like that.

Sting leaned over so his mouth was next to her ear and in a harsh tone, whispered "Listen, we're going to the capitol on a few trains now. The trip takes a couple of days, and we're heading to the station now. If you try _ANYthing_ funny, I swear you'll regret it. Understand?"

Mattie glared at the paving stones of the sidewalk sullenly. Sting let out growl and tightened his grip around her. The hold squeezed her until it hurt, and Mattie gasped as her ribs started to ache, still sore from Yesterday.

"_Understood?_" Sting growled in her ear.

"Yes," Mattie gasped.

His grip loosened and Mattie tried to keep herself from shaking. The group walked on for a couple more minutes, then stopped. Sting shoved Mattie off of his shoulder and she wobbled a bit on her feet to catch her footing. He smirked at her and she looked away and took in her surroundings.

"Well, what's the plan now that we're here?" Rufus, toting two suitcases (Including hers), asked.

"We try our best to keep a low profile, so pretend that Jeanette's just asleep or something," Minerva replied, giving Mattie a glare.

"That shouldn't be a problem now, _should it_?" Sting said, giving Mattie a pointed smirk.

Mattie stared at her shoes. Sting, satisfied, gave Minerva a silly grin. _I really don't like this guy_, Mattie thought to herself.

The group walked up to the ticket booth. A short, balding man gave them their tickets without even asking about Jeanette. Rufus and Orga exchanged relieved glances, Sting smirked again, Minerva smiled triumphantly, and Rogue seemed indifferent.

When the train pulled into the station, Orga shifted Jeanette on his shoulder, everyone picked up their bags, and they boarded the train on Car 5. There was an open section, which the group sat down at. The train was almost empty, as it was Christmas Day, so Orga and Sting immediately took up an entire bench each. The conductor announced that the train was departing, and Rogue shuddered.

The very second the train started to move; Sting and Rogue keeled over and began to turn green. Mattie had never seen anything like this before, and they both looked so miserable that she felt the need to ask if they were alright.

"Oh, they get motion-sickness. It's a dragonslayer thing, they'll be fine once we get off the train," Rufus reassured her. Mattie was unconvinced.

After about an hour, Minerva stood up. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to get lunch," she said. Rufus and Orga nodded and got up to join her. Sting and Rogue remained in their semi-comatose state.

"You coming?" Orga asked. Mattie shook her head. There was _no way_ she was going to sit with them any longer.

"Sting, Rogue, if she escapes, it's on you," Minerva threatened. Sting let out a pathetic groan that probably meant _are you kidding me? _The trio then left for the food car.

Mattie stared at her company. Jeanette was still unconscious, and Sting and Rogue looked as if they might be joining her friend at this rate. Sting noticed her staring, glared, and sat up.

"Don't even—think—about it…" he gasped.

"You're sure you're OK?" Mattie asked, incredulous.

"I made… the train ride… here… I'll make it back…"

He was leaning dangerously close to their bag. Mattie Pfieffer was _not_ going to sit back and watch him vomit on her and Jeanette's stuff. She stood up, walked over to her bag, and slung it over her shoulder. Sting saw this and took it the wrong way.

Mattie didn't even notice Sting until he body-slammed her into the next row of benches. The sheer force of his weight crushed her against the floor and she yelped in surprise. If anything, Sting looked even sicker than he had five minutes ago. She shoved him off of her in desperation and got up. Sting grabbed her ankle and she tumbled to the floor again.

"What's _your_ deal!?" Mattie shouted.

"You… aren't… getting away…" Sting groaned, looking too close to vomiting for Mattie's comfort.

"I'm not running away! Let go of me!" Mattie pleaded.

With that, Sting vomited. Thankfully, not on Mattie, but on the bench she'd been smashed against a few seconds before. Mattie stared at him with disgust clear in her eyes.

"Not… getting… away..!" Sting gasped again.

His grip, however, had loosened. Mattie shook his hand off, put her bag next to Jeanette, and walked down the aisle of the empty (thank goodness) train car. The sound of Sting's weak protests followed Mattie, but she kept walking away. When she found a little storage room, she opened the unlocked (thank goodness) door and grabbed something. She then walked back to Car 5.

Sting had never been so grateful to see a bucket in his life.

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**There's Chapter 5 for you! This will hopefully be updated again soon. Thanks for reading! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Jeanette-ish POV:**

Jeanette woke up when she was roughly thrown to the floor by the movement of the train. She opened her eyes and saw rows of benches on carpeted space. Something was walking towards her, she could hear it. Turning over was painful, but she managed to flip on her back and saw Mattie looking at her with concern. Mattie had various cuts and bruises on her face and put on a forced smile.

"It's good that you're awake," Mattie spoke in a tense tone. "We're on a train right now, heading towards the capitol of Fiore. With that cult or whatever they are." The last part was whispered. Jeanette's eyes widened as she looked at the forms of two men who… looked either drunk or deathly ill.

Mattie followed Jeanette's gaze and mumbled something about motion sickness under her breath. The pink-haired girl got mild motion sickness every once in a while, but it was nothing a painkiller couldn't cure. These two looked absolutely miserable, and Jeanette felt bad for them. The blonde man vomited into a bucket he was holding. Jeanette couldn't tell if the black-haired man was dead or not.

"Minerva, Rufus, and Orga went to lunch about twenty minutes ago, and left us with these guys," Mattie grimaced. "If we weren't in the middle of nowhere right now, we'd have been off the train about 15 minutes ago."

"You… underestimate… my power…" the blonde gasped.

"Yeah, whatever," Mattie replied, shooting him a vicious glare. She turned back to Jeanette. "The trip takes about two days, so we're stopping in a town in Northeast Fiore so Sting and Rogue here don't kick the bucket."

Rogue opened his eyes long enough to sit up and shoot Mattie a death-glare. She gave him an innocent look back.

"Our stuff's in your bag, which they say they won't let us have until they've searched it. I saved your stuff, so don't worry about it," Mattie reassured Jeanette, looking at her expression.

Nervously, Jeanette inched over to the window (her leg didn't seem to be working the way she wanted it to), where she would be as far away from the two men as she possibly could. The countryside was travelling past very quickly, and she could see a mountain range in the distance. Everything was covered with snow at this point, and the leftover flakes from the Christmas Eve storm were drifting past.

The bluenette stared down at her leg and slowly pressed it into the floor. Immediately, pain shot up from her ankle and Jeanette bit her lip. Her ribs were sore, but not to this level. _Please don't be broken, give me some good luck for now_, Jeanette prayed. She couldn't afford to have a broken limb right now.

After staring out the window at the unchanging landscape for about fifteen minutes, three people entered the car. Jeanette recognized them as the other three from Yesterday, and her stomach tightened up. They took little interest in her, and sat down on the benches closer to where Mattie was. The woman with the odd black hair glanced up at Jeanette, and Jeanette stopped staring.

After a couple of minutes, Mattie asked something like "So are we ever going to get our bag back?"

The three that had just returned shot her varying looks of exasperation. "We haven't checked it yet," the other blonde man groaned. Mattie glared at him, got up, and sat across from Jeanette by the window. Under her breath, Mattie mumbled something about procrastinators and slumped into the seat.

Minerva grabbed Jeanette's bag and dumped its contents onto the floor of the train car. She started going through all of their belongings, and Jeanette was pretty embarrassed about it. After taking out all of Mattie's magic wands (to the pink-haired girl's chagrin), Minerva stuffed everything else in the bag again and threw it at Mattie and Jeanette. Well, everything except Jeanette's journals.

"Why do you keep two blank journals with you?" Minerva asked suspiciously.

"I don't know, Jeanette just likes them or something," Mattie replied.

Minerva snorted (which seemed quite un-ladylike, coming from her) and tossed the journals to Jeanette, who put them back in their bag. Jeanette took out her knitting supplies and continued on the scarf she was making. She realized that her hands were shaking so much that she could barely grasp the needles. The scarf might have to wait.

**Mattie-ish POV:**

Five hours after Minerva had done a search of the bag, the conductor announced that the train would arrive at a small town called Flora in the next fifteen minutes. Luckily, Sting and Rogue had not drowned in a pool of their own vomit, so they sat up and stared out the windows of the train. Mattie could see lights on the nighttime horizon, probably Flora.

"We're staying in an inn near the south part of town," Minerva stated, looking at a slip of paper.

"Where are we now?" Rufus asked.

"The train station is a few blocks from the inn," Minerva replied, glancing at a map.

Mattie jumped a bit as something gripped her arm. She looked at Jeanette, who looked extremely nervous. The small girl shifted her weight onto her left foot and grimaced. Her ankle was swollen and a deep, irritated shade of red.

'_Can you walk on it?'_ Mattie mouthed to Jeanette. Wide-eyed, Jeanette shook her head _'yes'_ back (which probably meant _probably not, but I don't want to bother anyone_). Okay, so Jeanette was definitely not alright, but how badly was her ankle injured? Should she, Mattie, bring up the issue to the others, even though it might be seen as a weakness? For now, it seemed like the better choice to keep quiet and hope Jeanette would be okay.

A few minutes later, the train pulled into the station and Sting and Rogue looked about ready to melt into a puddle. The two Dragonslayers shakily got to their feet and wobbled towards the train car's doors. Mattie pulled Jeanette onto her feet, an action that hopefully would just be taken as friend-friendly-helping. Jeanette wobbled slightly and put her weight on her right leg, shooting Mattie a terrified expression. Giving her what Mattie hoped to be a reassuring smile, Mattie scooped up the bag with their stuff and walked to the door, with Jeanette limp-walking in tow.

**Jeanette-ish POV:**

Trying to keep from crying out in pain, Jeanette mustered the most natural-looking gait she could, biting her lip every time she stepped with her left foot. With a lot of luck, she could make it the few blocks to the hotel without tripping on anything (oh gosh, what if she tripped on something?).

After exiting the train station, Jeanette knew instantly not to expect luck any more. Excited to finally be off the train (torture device), an excited Sting began almost running to the inn. Everyone else could match the pace somewhat, but… being an almost-midget injured girl, this was going to prove to be difficult.

In addition, Minerva did not seem to want either Mattie or Jeanette out of her sight, so she trailed behind. _Great, I can't even limp-run,_ Jeanette inwardly complained. At the faster gait, the pain increased every time her foot hit the ground. Tears started to build up in Jeanette's eyes and the simple act of walking took all of her willpower and stamina to complete.

"Could you possibly speed it up a little?" Minerva growled, halting Jeanette's train of thought. She stopped and stared at Minerva, who had a look of disgust on her face. "Everybody else is probably at the inn by now."

Jeanette turned back forward, and sure enough, the others had all walked ahead of Minerva and Jeanette, and they were now standing alone in the road. They had walked a grand total of one block.

"I said walk faster, not stop, brat," Minerva snarled. Slowly, Jeanette shifted forward onto her left foot, and an excruciating pain shot up her leg and made her vision blur a bit. A hand grabbed her shoulder.

"Are you trying to be _funny_?" Minerva seethed. Desperately, Jeanette shook her head _'no'_, knowing not to upset the woman more than she had already done.

Suddenly, Jeanette was in front of the inn. Her vision was kaput and tinted red around the edges and her leg was beyond repair. How she had managed to get to the hotel was beyond Jeanette, but who cared? Fatigued, she opened the door and walked inside, feeling ready collapse. The chairs in the lobby seemed to be bathed in heavenly splendor, even though they looked about a hundred years old.

"I'm with the Sabertooth party," Minerva told the desk worker. "Can I have an extra key to our room?"

"Yeah, the others came in a few minutes ago," The man said, searching the drawers. "You're on the third floor, room 316. The stairs are on the right."

At that moment, Jeanette realized that A) That she would have to leave the glorious chair, B) That the room was on the _third floor_ and C) That the inn had no elevator, thus the stairs were mentioned. Minerva tilted her head in a way that said _well c'mon, we don't have all day_.

Jeanette used her right leg to get off the chair, and gingerly walked to the door, which frankly seemed like the gateway to hell at the moment. Behind her, Minerva swore under her breath, once again annoyed by the slow pace. The bluenette opened the door to reveal what was probably the steepest looking staircase ever created by the hands of mankind. She turned back to Minerva, who was probably well prepared to strangle her. Defeated, Jeanette shook her head _'no'_.

"No? What do you _mean, NO_?" Minerva asked through gritted teeth. Jeanette shook her head again, too frightened to say anything in response. "You will walk up those stairs _right... NOW._"

Completely at a loss for words, Jeanette's eyes widened and she shook her head a third time. Minerva's face flushed just a bit with fury. The woman grabbed Jeanette's wrist, twisted it, and began to march up the stairs, dragging Jeanette behind her. Jeanette bit her lip and tried not to pass out.

Once they reached the top, Minerva opened the entry and stalked her way to their room. If any more force had been used, the key would have broken trying to open the door. Furiously, Minerva walked into the room and threw her suitcase on a couch in the corner, almost smashing Mattie in the process.

Sting smirked and stated, "I presume you want the couch agai—"

"_CAN IT,_" Minerva spoke through her clenched teeth. Sting shut up instantly, while Rogue, Rufus, Orga, and Mattie cringed like abused puppies.

After a few minutes of incredibly awkward silence, Mattie asked "So, where do Jeanette and I sleep?"

Shooting Mattie the expression that probably created the phrase _if looks could kill_, Minerva hissed "THE FLOOR."

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**Well, there's chapter 6… after like forever… I'll try to get chapter 7 out faster… so sorry D:**


	7. Chapter 7

**Mattie-ish POV:**

The darkened room was so incredibly awkward, as nobody wanted to bother Minerva, so Team Sabertooth had taken to reading (If you could call Sting's horrible magazines _reading_, and Orga was writing something in a book). Unable to sleep with the lights on, Mattie just stared at the ceiling, and listened to the occasional page turn. The area around the window was tinted differing colors from Christmas lights not yet taken down on the streets. It was quieter tonight, as all the caroling and Christmas parties had halted the previous night, on Christmas Eve. There wasn't much to do on the night of December 25th.

With that in mind, the only thing keeping Mattie from asking for a book was her pride. She wasn't the kind to accept anything from the enemy, especially a trivial thing such as entertainment. Besides, it was almost eleven-o'clock, didn't these people ever sleep? Keeping watch was to be expected, but this was ridiculous, as she and Jeanette were both magic-cuffed to the radiator!

The gigantic clock outside (presumably in the town square, where giant clocks are often placed) chimed 11 times, and Mattie continued to fume.

**Jeanette-ish POV:**

Light was streaming in through the window, brightened by the snow that had fallen on Christmas Eve. Jeanette rolled over so that she was in the warm light, and getting direct heat from the radiator. Even with the wool blanket, she was at a comfortable temperature (Mattie called it being cold-blooded).

After about a minute, reality crashed down and Jeanette sat up in a flash, terrified that she had overslept and that it might have annoyed her captors. The sounds of Orga snoring and varying sets of deep breathing quickly extinguished that fear. The clock on the bedside table read 7:40. The room, without the dim yellow lamps casting eerie shadows like the night before, looked pleasant, warm, and inviting, but Jeanette still felt uneasy for some reason.

When Jeanette glanced back at where the four Sabertooth men were sleeping, Rogue was sitting up in bed, staring at her. Startled, she held her breath in and held his gaze for a second before quickly lying down again, turning away from his intense stare (still the red eyes, darn it). The way the cuffs chafed her wrist and didn't quite allow her to turn wasn't comfortable, but it was still better than having to look at him. Jeanette was embarrassed.

Mattie, oblivious to the whole incident, was drooling in her sleep. Jeanette liked seeing the pink-haired girl best when she was asleep, as with the scowl gone, Mattie looked kinder and more peaceful.

Without being in the warmth of the radiator and window, the temperature in the room seemed much lower. After a few minutes, the tip of Jeanette's nose was cold and the blanket didn't quite seem to be able to warm her fingers or toes. The small girl curled up in a ball to preserve warmth, and pulled the blanket over her head, but she was still chilled. Jeanette shivered and hoped everyone else would wake up soon.

A floorboard creaked, but Jeanette dismissed it as the old building's temperature changing, until she heard the sound of a drawer opening. Creating an opening through the edge of the cloth, Jeanette peeked her head out of the blanket slightly, only to have something dropped on her. Jeanette threw the now slightly heavier blanket off and sat up to see Rogue heading to the bathroom with a toothbrush. He turned around and gave her an inquisitive look, and Jeanette realized he had given her an extra blanket. Flustered, she leaned forward and ducked her head slightly in a "thank-you" gesture. Rogue nodded back and lumbered into the bathroom.

Now not entirely sure what to do anymore, Jeanette rolled over into a more comfortable position and tried to fall back asleep. Until that moment, their captors had all seemed like complete jerks. It was a bit odd to see that at least one of them had some sort of heart, but it just made the situation more confusing. Despite all that they'd been doing to get away from the people trying to capture them, Jeanette liked to believe that she and Mattie were the good guys, and that everyone trying to capture them was either crazy or a member of some religious cult. Jeanette actually hoped he (or the other four, for that matter) wouldn't try anything nice again, just so she could keep that mindset going.

Still drowning in a sense of doubt, Jeanette didn't notice Rogue coming out from the bathroom, stuffing his toothbrush in his suitcase, and picking up her bag. When Rogue dropped the bag next to her, it jarred her from her thoughts. The man grabbed her arm and unlocked the handcuffs; all the while with a facial expression that said something along the lines of '_don't you dare make me regret this'_. He pointed first to their bag, then to the bathroom, then to his watch. Jeanette nodded back and quickly did her best not to limp to the bathroom.

The little tiled room was painted a very pale turquoise, and looked like just about every other hotel bathroom she'd seen on advertisements in the knitting magazine she had found in an overturned recycling bin. She hadn't expected the adorable little containers of shampoo, conditioner, and liquid soap that claimed to smell like some flower whose name she couldn't pronounce. After brushing her teeth and using the bathroom, she once looked at the shower in the corner. Thinking it couldn't hurt anyone, she tried to figure out how to use the faucets.

After turning the H faucet on the left, a torrent of water rushed out of a spout-looking thing close to the top of the bathtub. Startled (the public restroom sinks she normally used to get water from didn't make near to this much noise); she watched the heavy flow from the shower head. Stepping into the shower, the water temperature was comfortable… for about five seconds. The water heat was unbearable, uncomfortable, ridiculous (people showered in _this_?), so Jeanette turned off the H faucet and turned on the C faucet. The water once again reached a comfortable temperature as it cooled, for about a second or two, before the water reached seemingly the Arctic-glacier level of cold. With shampoo still in her hair, Jeanette turned off the faucet more quickly than she thought humanly possible, and left the shower.

Looking in the mirror, a wide-eyed, pink-skinned creature with shampoo bubbles in its hair greeted her. Dribbles of water, saturated with the shampoo in her hair, ran down her face and into her eyes, resulting in a stinging sensation similar to the time she had accidentally gotten too close to a woman spraying perfume. She had once overheard a conversation about morning showers VS evening showers, and now questioned the sanity of both parties for considering showers at all. How could anyone enjoy _that_? Jeanette rubbed her face in the towel to attempt to get the shampoo out of her eyes, but it lingered, and the blue-haired girl's mind briefly lingered on the fact that she could wash it out with the shower water, but that thought left quickly.

Once Jeanette could open her eyes again, she stared at her reflection in the mirror, stared at the shampoo bubbles still in her hair, and wrapped the towel more tightly around her. Jeanette opened the door, and made eye contact with Rogue. She mouthed _'help me'_, _and_ he gave her a look that probably meant _'you can't be serious right now'_.

About fifteen minutes later, Jeanette, now with a knowledge of shower usage, and feeling a bit strange with a clean body and dirty clothes, walked out of the bathroom, and Minerva growled something like "You had better not have wasted all the hot water," before stalking into the bathroom herself. Rogue seemed to be trying to avoid looking at her at all costs, and everyone else was just starting to get up. Jeanette sat in a chair and waited for everyone else to get ready.

_Time-skip to the train ride home…_

**Mattie-ish POV:**

Once again, Minerva, Rufus, and Orga had left Mattie and Jeanette alone with Rogue and Sting while they went to lunch on the dining car. Though Mattie was desperate for something to eat (Team Sabertooth didn't want them to make a scene during the complimentary breakfast, so they had left them behind in the room), Jeanette was in no condition to walk to the second car over, and the train ride was making her feel a bit off. Maybe if she didn't hate Rufus', Orga's, and Minerva's guts, she would have gone to the dining car with them. Unlike Jeanette, Mattie couldn't go two and a half days without food (didn't these people know they needed to be _fed_ in order to be taken to the capitol alive?), so she was glad that Sting and Rogue were too busy drowning in their self-pity to notice the dying whale noises her stomach was making. Maybe they'd get something to eat once they arrived in Crocus.

Speaking of Crocus, Mattie was anxious about what exactly was going to happen once they got there. Apparently, they'd been on the top of _Fiore's Most Wanted_ list or whatever it was called for the past couple months or so, but neither she nor Jeanette had any clue of what for. Mattie could see herself as a criminal, but the fact that Jeanette was on the list as well seemed… not very well looked into. Jeanette routinely called Mattie if she needed a spider killed, because she lacked the ability to hurt anything without feeling guilt afterwards. What could she have done to get her name on that list at all?

Minerva and company reentered the train car, and the wheels in Mattie's head started working on a different idea. How exactly could she phrase a question asking exactly what their crime was? After a few minutes of mulling over the question, she piped up.

"So, what we did was bad enough to get us to the top of _Fiore's Most Wanted_?" Mattie mused, loudly enough as to be "overheard" by everyone else.

Orga paused his music player, Rufus dropped his novel, Minerva's face suddenly discolored, and Sting and Rogue even shifted in the corner of the boxcar. It was as if Mattie had just suggested that killing puppies should be a new national pastime, and she immediately regretted speaking up. Minerva turned to face Mattie and Jeanette by the window, with an expression she couldn't quite read. Mattie could hear Jeanette shifting behind her (probably shifting in the direction of the window, away from their captors).

"_You_, Mattie Pfieffer, seem to be _even more demented_ than I previously imagined… you or your sense of humor," Minerva seethed.

"I just don't get—" Mattie started, but was cut off by the action of Minerva getting up out of her seat.

"Maybe if you, _for once_, opened your eyes past your guild's sick little fantasy realm, you would '_get'_ whatever you are trying to… _'get'_," Minerva hissed, making quotations in the air with her fingers to emphasize her points. The woman was close enough to Mattie that she could feel Minerva's breathing on her face.

"I—" Mattie stuttered.

"You and your bratty little bunch of heathens _obliterated a large chunk of Crocus_. Crocus is the capitol of this country, by the way, if you paid enough attention to _anything else beyond yourselves_. In addition to that, your _criminally insane guild master_—yes, I say criminally insane, because she proudly showed us the _asylum certificate_—murdered thirty-seven mages and innocent civilians in a crowded city street before we had time to evacuate anyone. _That_, by the way, happened _after_ another guild member of yours lost control of whatever God-forsaken magic she used, and killed a different member of your guild and _six other innocent civilians_ before herself in the middle of the town square." Minerva spoke through clenched teeth.

"I—" Mattie stuttered.

"All that, and you have the audacity to question why you have been targeted these last few months? I've got news for you, Miss Mattie Pfieffer, you haven't been targeted. You are _not_ on _Fiore's Most Wanted_. If you two hadn't been thought dead five months ago, you would have been captured, tried, and executed long before today," the woman seethed. She looked Mattie up and down with hatred clear in her eyes. "Maybe not _executed_, but if I were running Fiore, you would be, and you'd deserve it at that."

With that, Minerva stalked off to where Orga and Rufus, who were staring at her with similar levels of disgust, were sitting.

Mattie hadn't moved since she had spoken to herself. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, and her mind was running at about a million miles per hour. Whatever she had measured as an answer, it certainly wouldn't have been that pronounced, filled with loathing, and awful. For what Mattie remembered, there had been no guild, no murders, not even a criminally insane guild master. Knots tied, untied, and flipped around in the girl's stomach. How on earth was she going to get herself out of this mess?

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**End of Chapter 7. **

**I honestly didn't plan to have the reason for Filli Ad Cor's arrest stated this early on in the story (it's a **_**long**_** story, trust me here), but I knew that I wanted Minerva to tell it. The plot will start chugging along now; don't worry, even though I felt this was a filler chapter for the most part. **

**I have been away for the past two weeks, so expect more posts now that I am back and that the story is really starting. Thanks again, and I hope to have Chapter 8 posted soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Jeanette-ish POV:**

The train car they had been sitting in was deathly quiet. With Mattie's blunder and Minerva's outburst, the air was uncomfortably charged and tense and nobody really wanted to start a conversation. Jeanette was very nervous, and not just because of the threat of Team Sabertooth. They were set to arrive in Crocus in about three hours, and now that she was aware of what they were accused of, the "Flower Blooming Capitol" seemed more like a deathtrap.

Outside, the snow was becoming more and more sparse. Being more in the Southern part of Fiore, Crocus had a much milder climate than Blueport, on the Northeast shoreline. From conversations she'd overheard, pictures she'd seen, and books she'd scanned at the library, her idea of Crocus was that of an oasis city in the middle of a semi-desert plains area, getting its water from the river that ran through the center of the Capitol. Now that they were approaching the city, this seemed accurate, as the land was flat and boring to look at.

Suddenly, a metallic ear-piercing screech resounded through the train car. Jeanette was tossed to the floor as the train wheels grinded against the tracks, rapidly slowing. The screech continued for a few seconds, and then stopped, as did the train.

Jeanette sat up, trying not to move her ankle any. Mattie had braced herself against the seat, but looked alarmed. Team Sabertooth had stayed pretty much upright, save Sting and Rogue who had fallen off their seats and miserably rolled forward a few feet. Minerva glared at Jeanette and Mattie, as if to say _"What did you do _this_ time?"_

"There weren't any stops today, were there?" Mattie asked.

"No, but I'm sure the conductor just braked for something on the tracks," Rufus replied, though his expression stated that he believed otherwise.

Sting let out a string of garbled speech that might have been a complaint.

"The conductor should make an announcement shortly," Minerva said, clearly miffed.

After an uncomfortable silence that lasted way more than it should have, Jeanette started to get nervous. She wasn't sure which was worse; being stranded on a train in the middle of nowhere, or being tried for a crime she may or may not have committed in the Capitol. Orga let out an annoyed sigh.

"We should probably check it out, guys. Guild protocol or whatever," Orga groaned.

"What about _them_?" a recovering Sting asked, motioning towards Mattie and Jeanette.

"Exactly how far are we from the nearest city? What do you expect us to do, waltz out of the train and teleport to the nearest city, which is probably over thirty miles away?" Mattie snapped. "It's thirty-some degrees outside; I'll take the train, thank you."

Sting stared at Mattie and then turned back to Minerva. "I'll stay here, you guys go on ahead to check on the conductor."

**Mattie-ish POV:**

Even though the train's stopping delayed their arrival in Crocus, Mattie Pfieffer was not a happy camper. She had tried to go with the party, but her request was coldly denied. Jeanette, who was completely terrified of Team Sabertooth in general, was cowering near the window. Mattie scooted down the bench so that she was closer to Jeanette in case the blonde idiot tried to pull anything funny.

Mattie reached into the bag, desperate to look busy, and pulled out Jeanette's knitting magazine. She opened it to a random page and did her best to look busy, while her mind was going at a million miles per hour. She tried out countless escape plans in her head, but all had questionable endings. Besides, was it worth it at all? They'd still be hunted criminals, and now that they apparently were known to exist, the search effort would be doubled.

"Do you normally read your magazines upside-down?" Sting asked, giving her a smirk as he sat down next to her on the bench.

"Do I what?" Mattie snapped, before she realized that the magazine in fact _was_ upside-down. Furious, she put down the magazine and stuffed it in the bag.

"You don't even know how to knit, do you?" Sting snorted.

Mattie scooted down the bench so that she was practically crushing Jeanette against the wall of the train car. Sting gave her an impish grin and followed suit.

"I'd like to imagine that I have a personal space bubble," Mattie spoke through clenched teeth.

"Well, you've managed to pop Jeanette's," Sting jested.

"That's different," Mattie shot back, glaring at Sting as he inched closer.

"You're just uptight," Sting said, getting close enough so that their legs were touching. The girl shuddered, uncomfortable. Mattie felt Jeanette's hand on her shoulder, probably her way of saying _"don't even think about it"_, but Mattie didn't care. She shoved Sting off the bench.

Sting clearly hadn't been expecting the outburst, and he tumbled off the bench and landed with a satisfying _thunk_ on the floor of the train car. He sat up immediately and regained his composure, smoothing out his hair with his hands and staring at Mattie with a wounded expression.

"Well jeez, somebody forgot to take their pills this morning," Sting chided.

"I am not currently on any medication," Mattie sighed.

"I meant—oh, never mind… "

Sting sat next to her in the same spot. She gave him her best _"go die in a hole"_ look, but he seemed unfazed. Fuming, she realized that she probably couldn't use the element of surprise on him anymore. Mattie crossed her arms and sulked, trying to ignore Sting leaning up next to her. He put his head on her shoulder, and Mattie hoped the others would get back soon. Sting was really creeping her out (which was certainly his intention, if only she didn't have the stupid magic bracelet to deal with…).

After a couple minutes, Sting jumped a bit, then stood up and started walking towards the entrance that the others hadn't taken, the entrance to go to the rear of the train. Mattie watched as he pressed his ear against the door, low to the ground as not to be in the view of the window.

"What exactly are you doing?" Mattie asked.

"I'm listening, so shut up," Sting snapped, shooting her a glare.

"Listening for what?"

Her question was ignored. Whatever Sting could hear, it wasn't very loud, because Mattie couldn't hear anything at all. Just when she was going to dismiss it as insanity, Mattie heard a bang, like something hitting metal from behind the door. She quietly joined Sting by the door, while motioning for Jeanette to stay in her seat.

Now that she was next to the door, the banging sounds were louder, and voices were carrying. Between the two cars, she knew, was the connecting cable. One would have to open the door to the opposite train car, cross the short cable, and then reenter the other car from the outside, which was probably why the words themselves were getting lost in translation. Judging by Sting's expression, however, Mattie guessed that he could hear what the people were saying. For once, Sting didn't have his stupid trademark grin on. His mouth was pressed into a thin line and his eyebrows were knit together in concentration.

In an instant, Sting's hand was clamped over her mouth, his other arm being used to swing her around to the left of the door. Furious, she flailed in his death grip, but Sting was strong enough that it did little to even move him.

"Shut up and stay still, will you?" Sting hissed in her ear, while motioning for Jeanette to duck down in her seat. The small girl stared at him inquisitively, but obliged.

Seconds later, the door swung open, in such a way that it blocked Sting and Mattie from the line of vision of whoever was entering. Three forms walked in and paused at the entryway, almost close enough so that Mattie could reach out and touch the closest one's jacket. The door stayed open, so Mattie and Sting were concealed behind it.

"I guess we've reached the passenger cars," one voice said, in an eerily high pitched voice, considering the fact that the three forms were distinctly male.

"It's about time. This train took forever to search, and there's nothing valuable on board…" a second voice complained.

"I'm sure some of the passengers will have all their Christmas goodies onboard~" the high-pitched voice squealed (really, there was no other word for it), delighted.

There was a pause, and Sting tightened his grip on Mattie as the threesome surveyed the train car.

"You can come out, girlie. I can see you," the second voice said. Jeanette stood up, and Mattie could see her shaking even from her distance. Sting clamped a hand over her mouth.

"All these suitcases for one person… where are your friends?" the third voice spoke up. Jeanette, not even looking at Mattie and Sting, pointed towards the front of the train.

"They went to check on the conductor?" the third voice asked. Jeanette nodded.

"Mickey, watch her, please," the third voice commanded. There was the sound of something clicking and Sting tensed up against Mattie.

The three men walked away from the door, and Sting took advantage of the opportunity by picking up Mattie and looping around the door to the outside of the train. He crossed the connecting cable and opened the opposite door as quietly as he could, ducking inside the other car and closing it behind him and Mattie. He walked to the far end of the car, looked behind him, and ducked behind a stack of crates. It was only then that he took his hand off of Mattie's mouth.

"You _idiot_! Jeanette's still in the other car!" Mattie whispered in a harsh tone.

"I know that," Sting replied, his eyes closed.

"Why did you leave her there? Who knows what they're up to?"

"Getting off the car to think up a plan was probably the best option,"

"What do you mean, 'the best option'?! You guys are more than enough to take out those guys, aren't you?"

Sting glanced at her exasperatedly, "Look, those guys were _mages_, and I could sense that they weren't small fries, either. In addition, one of them had Jeanette at gunpoint—"

"Wait, that clicking noise was a gun? How did you—"

"So I couldn't just 'take out those guys', okay? I have no idea what they are capable of, or if they did anything to the train, or if they would shoot Jeanette if we threatened them! "

"You could have tried _something_—"

Sting tensed up and glared at Mattie, "Like it or not, right now it is our job to deliver you to Crocus. I'd be in huge trouble with my guild if a rash decision got either one of you killed."

"Your _lack of gumption_ is what's going to get her killed, not attacking those guys!" Mattie hissed back.

"For the love of—do you _ever_ think things through before you act?" Sting asked.

"You're wasting time!" Mattie seethed, pulling her arm out of Sting's grip. "I'm going to help Jeanette!"

Mattie got about two steps before Sting body-slammed her into the floor of the train car and dragged her back behind the boxes.

"And what do _you_ expect to do against those guys? Kicking them in the shins and hoping that they'll fall over and hit their head on the way down _won't_…_ work_." Sting hissed. "Now _CAN IT_ and let me think."

He shoved Mattie to the floor and sat in the corner, his expression blank. She knew that whatever plan she came up with, no matter how perfect it was would be ignored. Mattie furiously imagined the rusting gears in his head trying to turn past the cobwebs and spiders to calm down. A couple seconds later, they were both interrupted by the sound of the door on the other side of the car opening.

Jeanette walked in, followed by one of the men (presumably Mickey). Mattie peeked through an opening in the crate and got her first good look at the thief.

Mickey had dark green hair which was cut short in a buzz-cut. He had large eyes, a tiny nose, and at thin mouth framing buck teeth. Given the almost-bowling ball shape of his head and large ears, Mickey looked almost comically like Mickey Mouse. He was wearing a blue button-down with khakis (imagine a best-buy employee) and black shoes. Mickey, if she had seen him on the street, would have blended in perfectly with the crowd, except for the small pistol in his hand, pointed at Jeanette.

Mattie pressed herself up against the crates, tense in case something happened. Mickey walked Jeanette over to the crates opposite where she was sitting. Jeanette sat down on the crates, and Mickey, with his back to Mattie, dropped his aim at Jeanette and mumbled something under his breath in his high-pitched voice about always being stuck with the lame job.

Mickey, with his back to Mattie and his gun pointed away from Jeanette, was practically waving a beaming spotlight, which pointed to the blinking neon sign above his head that said "ATTACK ME NOW". There was _no way_ Mattie was going to turn this opportunity up.

Before Sting could even react, Mattie was running towards Mickey with as much stealth as she could muster. She launched herself into the air at his back just as Sting screamed "NO!" and Mickey turned around just in time to have Mattie slam into his face. Even with all the momentum she had and her entire bodyweight slamming into Mickey, he stumbled and almost managed to pull himself together before crashing to the ground. Mattie grabbed Mickey's wrist with one hand and the gun with another, and then pointed the gun at his face.

The train car was deathly silent. Jeanette and Sting were staring at Mattie with horror, and Mickey was looking cross-eyed at the gun. His eyes drifted from Mattie's face, to the gun, to Mattie's face again. His face broke into a wide grin.

"You don't have it in you, girlie~," Mickey laughed, which sounded more like a screech.

"You don't know me," Mattie spoke through clenched teeth.

"It doesn't matter, anyway…" Mickey shrugged best he could. Mattie pressed her lips together, and then yelped as pain shot up her arm. She glanced at the gun with an expression of disbelief and dismay, as the pistol was now useless, with the barrel twisted and the trigger guard tightening around her hand. Mattie threw the gun to the opposite side of the train car as a reflex and Mickey pushed her off of him.

"You know, my magic is pretty useless in a lot of situations," Mickey drawled. "That's I joined this crew, because we mostly stick to robbing trains. Do you know what guns are made of?" Mickey grinned again, looking at Jeanette, Mattie, and Sting in turn.

"Guns are made of steel alloys. You know what else steel is used for? _Trains._ That works really well for me, and a lot of wealth passes by on these things. It's like a jackpot!" Mickey squealed, looking like a kid in a candy factory. "My magic… well…"

Mickey raised his hand towards Mattie and clenched his fist. There was the sound of something tearing, and a chunk of the side of the train flew at the girl. Jeanette crashed into Mattie, knocking her over, and the hunk of metal flew over her head and crashed into part of the cargo. Mickey screech-laughed again, and the metal divided into smaller pieces and flew towards the two girls again. The one of the pieces clipped Mattie's leg, and she yelped.

Sting ran towards Mickey, whose eyes widened. Mattie could feel the magical power that he charged into the blow he was about to give his opponent, but Mickey ripped another chunk of steel off the side of the train and used it to block the punch. Sting shook his hand out, which probably hurt from hitting a piece of metal head-on, and glared at Mickey.

"Nice try, Blondie, but I've got an entire train car to work with here~" Mickey giggled.

"Mattie, Jeanette, get to the next car ov—" Sting started, but was cut off by Mickey using the shield to slam into Sting, he was knocked into the crates by the door. Mickey waved his hand again, and the steel of the train car bent around the door, making it impossible to reach.

"It's my job to make it so that nobody interferes, you're not leaving this car," Mickey stated.

Mattie wasn't quite sure how to deal this. There had to be something she could do, but how was one supposed to beat someone like this, who could bend the environment around to his favor?

Mattie hoped the others were currently beating up Mickey's friends so that they could get some backup.

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**Well, that's Chapter 8! **

**I'll do my best to illustrate the fight in the next chapter. I have an idea of how it will end, but I need to figure out how to put it into words. I hope to have the chapter out soon. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Jeanette-ish POV:**

Despite the fact that Mattie had completely messed up what could have been an advantageous situation, Jeanette was overjoyed to not be alone with Mickey. However, Mattie _had_ completely destroyed an advantageous situation, which frustrated her a bit. Mickey had also launched quasi-bullets at them, and that was less than ideal as well. Even worse, the exits were blocked off, so Jeanette and Mattie were now trapped like rats in a boxcar (which now seemed too small for comfort) and had been dodging the shrapnel from Sting's and Mickey's fight for a couple minutes now.

Jumping (as much as her ankle would allow her) away from a refracting beam of light, Jeanette tumbled into the nearest crates. How could Mickey's companions or the other passengers… _not hear THIS_? Granted, the other two thugs (C- and P-something) had almost been finished tearing apart the bags when Mickey had taken her to the other car, so maybe they had moved on to the next passenger car. A hunk of steel came close enough to swish her hair and crashed into the wall behind her, and Jeanette ducked behind a row of crates.

Suddenly, a realization hit her like… a piece of flying metal. She grabbed the piece of steel that was now lodged into the wall after nearly giving her a haircut, and pulled it from the steel frame of the train car. Jeanette, being careful not to catch Mickey's attention, used the steel to pry the lid off the crate, like one would with a crowbar. Expectantly, she peered inside, to be met by… cans, cans of soup, to be exact.

Doubting that Miss Bell's carrot soup would be able to stop Mickey, she pried open the next nearest crate, which was stuffed with Miss Bell's tomato soup. Three crates and three varieties of soup later, Jeanette slumped into the wall of the train car, somewhat disheartened. What had the thieves complained about earlier (right, that there was nothing _good_ on the train)?

She perked her head up so she could see how the battle was progressing, and it didn't look too good. Sting was clearly getting frustrated by the fact that nothing was hitting Mickey, and had scrapes, bruises, and a nasty cut on his arm. Mickey seemed to be in much better shape, if only a little tired from all the magical energy he must have been exerting. If Jeanette didn't do anything, it seemed that Sting might lose the battle at this rate. The options were bad, horrible, and even worse.

After opening a few more soup crates, Jeanette stared at Miss Bell, who she liked to believe was smiling back at her in encouragement. This was an awful strategy, and would waste so many cans of condensed soup mix, but what had to be done… had to be done.

The battle came to a screeching halt when Mickey was hit in the side of the head with a can of Miss Bell's Veggie Delight soup. The can fell to the floor and rolled to the man's foot with the image of Miss Bell grinning up at him. Confused, Mickey looked to the source of the disruption, only to be hit square in the nose with a can of Cream of Mushroom soup. Sting took advantage of the distraction, and charged Mickey, punching him in the gut with a charged blast and sending him backwards. Mickey tripped over the can of Veggie Delight soup and landed hard on the ground.

Without a second's hesitation, Jeanette hurled soup cans at Mickey, one after another. Mickey, unable to concentrate while being mauled by Miss Bell's soups couldn't put a barrier up in time to block an attack sent his way by Sting. He flew back into the steel frame of the train car and got hastily got back up again. Jeanette tried throwing more cans, but by this time Mickey had been blasted out of her range. The bluenette limped around the stack of crates only to be crushed by a wall of metal that the train thief had hurled at her.

Jeanette felt pressure in her ribs and could hear people yelling. She squirmed underneath the suffocating sheet and pulled herself out. Her ribs definitely weren't going to heal from Christmas Eve if this kept happening. The small girl struggled to stand up, and was greeted by a peculiar scene.

Mattie, probably enraged by Jeanette's being attacked, was riding Mickey piggy-back style. With one hand, she had Mickey best she could by his short hair. With the other, she was relentlessly hitting him in the temple with a can of Miss Bell's Squash Supreme soup. Sting, not sure what to make of the situation, was trying to get at an angle where he could either pry Mattie off of Mickey, hit Mickey with an attack, or both.

With an annoyed growl, Sting kicked Mickey in the shins. Mickey collapsed to the floor, and Mattie rolled off of him. In that split second interval, Sting slammed both fists into Mickey from above, and Jeanette could feel the wave of magical energy from where she stood, which was enough for her to lose her footing again. When she had gotten up again, Mickey's body had formed a small dent into the floor of the train car. There was a silence that fell through the train, lasting a couple moments.

"Well, that's that," Sting retorted.

"He looks badly hurt, was that really necessary?" Mattie asked, glaring at Sting.

"You were the one attacking him with a can of soup," a slightly annoyed Sting replied. He walked over to the exit of the now-ruined train car and blasted a hole in the steel large enough to crawl through. After hopping out, he poked his upper torso back in the train car.

"So, you guys coming or what? I hear they don't heat the storage cars," He snapped, and Jeanette realized they didn't have much choice.

Jeanette gingerly stepped past the unconscious Mickey and across the connecting cable back to the passenger car. Sting checked the window on the door and then opened it. Warmth rushed in from the passenger car and seemed to swirl around Jeanette. She hadn't really realized how cold the boxcar was. Their belongings were strewn across the floor of the passenger car, which upset Jeanette a bit, but there was probably nothing that couldn't be returned after the thieves were captured.

"They're probably heading towards the conductor's car," Mattie reasoned.

"Congratulations, you must be detective of the century," Sting snapped.

"I was—" Mattie started, only to be cut off by a vicious glare from Sting.

The passenger cars, for the convenience of those riding, had no cable that you had to cross to get from car to car. Sting checked the window from behind the door, and flung the door open. The threesome ran through the second passenger car, which was empty save a young man and presumably his father. Their eyes wide, the father pointed towards the next car. Sting nodded and ran towards the second door. He flung the door open and recoiled.

Orga, Rogue, and Rufus stared back in horror at Sting, Mattie, and Jeanette. Orga and Rogue were both propping up the forms of what seemed to be the remaining two train burglars, both unconscious and beaten senseless. Jeanette was a bit confused as to why the others looked so frightened until Minerva came out from behind the door, clearly very annoyed after being hit head on by a sheet of metal.

"Why… _you_—" Minerva started.

"Um hey, guys! The other one is in the third car down," Sting interrupted with a high-pitched, clipped tone. He was clearly eager to change the subject.

"What other one?" Rufus asked, confused and also eager to get off the subject.

"There were three of them, the last one is in the first boxcar," Sting replied in his higher-pitched voice.

The rest of Team Sabertooth nodded, and walked past Sting. Minerva hissed 'don't think I'll forget that' as she passed by.

**Mattie-ish POV:**

Somewhere around thirty minutes later, Mattie and the other were back in the passenger car, and back on track toward Crocus. Sting and Orga were laughing over their victories (Jeanette's Soup Escapade unmentioned), Minerva was nursing a swollen forehead, and Rogue and Rufus were back to their novels. At the moment, Mattie was just happy to be alive, and questioning how Orga and Sting were boasting about their victories as if they had as much difficulty defeating the thieves as on would have riding a carousel at the fair. _Narcissists…_ she thought with contempt.

The sky darkened while the train chugged towards the capitol city, as they were about an hour behind schedule, and a couple of hours later, Mattie could see lights in the distance through the window. With a combination of the darkness and Crocus' flat surroundings to the North, it could be seen from miles away, and was a sign of the journey's end to the two girls. Though Mattie was more than happy to be away from Team Sabertooth, Jeanette seemed terrified of the looming threat. The small girl's hands were clasped tightly in her lap and she was shaking as she looked out the window.

Mattie took a quick scan around the passenger car. The car was still empty save Mattie, Jeanette, and their captors. Orga and Minerva were napping; Sting and Rogue were in a semi-comatose state after having been through hours of motion sickness, and Rufus seemed too engrossed in his novel. As quietly as she possibly could, the pink-haired girl scooted over to where Jeanette was sitting. She wrapped her arms around Jeanette and gave her what she hoped to be a comforting hug, while staring at the opposite side of the train car in case Rufus looked up. Mattie took Jeanette's hand, squeezed it, and then slunk back to where she had been previously sitting.

Glancing back at Jeanette, Mattie realized that the hug hadn't been the best idea, as Jeanette looked about ready to burst into tears. Disgruntled, Mattie turned away and hoped that Jeanette could pull herself together before they got to the city.

About a half hour later, the conductor announced their arrival in Crocus, and the train shifted on the tracks as it slowed. Mattie watched as Minerva opened her eyes, looked around, and violently shook Orga awake while Sting and Rogue tried to compose themselves. Sting caught her gaze and grinned at her once again, and Mattie turned away. She wanted more than anything to throw him off the side of the train, but knew that wasn't going to happen.

When the train came to a halt, Mattie picked up Jeanette's bag. She extended her hand to where the scrawny bluenette was seated and helped her up (another friend-friendly gesture, definitely had _nothing_ to do with Jeanette's ankle). At least now Jeanette could get some medical care, and get away from the not-so-lovable Team Sabertooth. Jeanette wobbled a bit, trying to regain her footing, and settled with a terrified facial expression, probably hoping the walk in Crocus wouldn't be that long.

As the doors to the train opened, Team Sabertooth excitedly grabbed their bags and rushed out the door. Mattie followed with Jeanette limping in tow. The two girls followed their captors to a large map of the city that they were consulting. After quickly tracing a finger between the YOU ARE HERE flower and the Magic Council building, Rufus murmured 'about 12 blocks' under his breath.

Jeanette paled. Mattie tapped her foot nervously on the cobblestone pavement. 12 blocks was at least 3 times what they walked the previous evening, and Jeanette's ankle probably wasn't doing better after she had been slammed into the floor by one of Mickey's attacks. There was no way that Jeanette could walk that far.

"I plan to be in residence _before_ dawn tonight, so we'll walk at a faster clip tonight," Minerva stated, shooting Jeanette a vicious glare. Sting and Orga snickered.

_Perfect timing, Miss Minerva_, Mattie seethed. Jeanette shrank back a bit, and Mattie turned toward her at an angle where the others couldn't see her face, and mouthed 'fake it' to Jeanette.

**Jeanette's POV:**

There was no way Jeanette McIntosh could 'fake it'. Her ankle had not been aided by Mickey, and at this point her ribs wanted to collapse in on her stomach. There was no way she could walk 12 blocks (uphill, knowing her luck) to the Magic Council building without collapsing, getting her hair pulled out by Minerva, or both.

An image of a large structure popped into her mind. In the image, it was a bit darker out, and magic lights illuminated the building's grandeur. More to the point, the lights illuminated the forty-some steps leading up to the entrance.

Bringing herself back to reality, Mattie's hand was waving in front of her face. Most of Team Sabertooth had started walking towards the left side of the intersection (which seemed to slope uphill, life was so cruel). Rogue was staring at Jeanette with a quizzical facial expression, as his comrades were quite a ways off. Jeanette mentally slapped herself for getting sidetracked and did a quasi-jog to catch up to the rest of the group. Her ankle rejected the movement, but complied, painful as it was.

To her dismay, Jeanette soon realized that staying with the group was a far-off fantasy. Even Mattie was starting to drift forward a bit, leaving Jeanette behind. The girl's vision was starting to lose focus as all physical parts of her body were screaming at her to stop and rest her ankle. The group passed the first block, and Jeanette knew it was foolish to think _one-twelfth of the way there!_ She knew that she couldn't make the remaining eleven blocks.

"You don't normally walk this slowly, I presume," a quiet voice from behind her spoke. Jeanette turned around to see Rogue, who looked slightly annoyed by the fact that they were getting so far behind everyone else. "I could imagine your friend walking at that pace to get a rise out of us, but not you. What is it?"

Jeanette shook her head, turned back around, and when walking at a faster pace didn't work, tried larger strides. After a couple steps, her foot hit the ground at an odd angle, and pain like never before shot up her entire leg. Her left knee buckled, and Jeanette toppled over and fell into the street.

Embarrassed and a bit nervous, Jeanette hoped her fall would be dismissed as poor coordination and quickly tried to hop to her feet. The momentum of the sudden shift in her weight caused Jeanette to lose whatever balance she possessed and fall face-first into the cobblestone. Jeanette bit her lip as her left foot hit the street once again. She started shaking, knowing full-well that her antics couldn't just be dismissed as clumsiness anymore. Looking up, she noticed that everyone else had rounded a corner and was out of her line of vision. A couple on the side of the road pointed towards her and covered their mouths with their hands, and Jeanette froze under the gazes of everyone on the street.

From behind, Rogue grabbed Jeanette by her shoulders and hauled her to her feet. His face red with mixed emotions which could have been anywhere between embarrassment and anger, the black-haired man steered Jeanette to a vacant doorway.

"What's wrong with you?" Rogue asked, though in a tone that expressed how he wanted an answer.

A terrified Jeanette shook her head. Mattie would be upset with her if she told Rogue about her ankle, because Mattie hated it when weaknesses showed. If anything, Jeanette did _not_ want another person upset with her, especially a friend. Rogue's eyes narrowed and he growled a bit. Vaguely, Jeanette connected this with Sting and how he had made a similar not-quite-human noise when he was furious with Mattie on the train. Jeanette took a step back and found her back against the wall of the shop. In the corner of her eye, Jeanette saw the woman of the couple from earlier pointing at her and Rogue and talking to her companion with an alarmed expression. Rogue took a step closer.

"Well?" he snarled. His lip curled upward, and Jeanette could sense how frustrated he was. She could feel how sick he was of dealing with her antics, of dealing with having to take a detour on his trip (or whatever Team Sabertooth had been doing) to escort two fussy criminals back to the capitol. Not sure if telling him would make him less upset or not, Jeanette shook her head again and started to walk out from the doorway. Rogue grabbed her arm and dragged her back, which hurt.

Maybe Mattie wouldn't have given in so easily, but Jeanette definitely wasn't Mattie Pfieffer. She couldn't deal with how angry Rogue seemed at her. Staring at Rogue, who was staring back with a look of utmost contempt, Jeanette knew that he wasn't going to just let this go. Breaking away from the death-glare he was giving her, Jeanette looked down and pointed to her ankle. It took Rogue a few seconds to realize what she was getting at, but his grip on her right arm softened. His mouth was still twisted into a deep frown, but he didn't seem as likely to murder her anymore (an improvement).

"Do you think you can make it there?" Rogue asked in a somewhat gentler tone. Jeanette shook her head. Exhaling in mild annoyance, Rogue turned around and knelt down. Knowing what a piggy-back request looked like, Jeanette got on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. Rogue awkwardly tried to loop his arms around Jeanette in a way that he could still drag his suitcase behind. After he finally managed to position himself (it probably wasn't comfortable anyway), he started quickly walking in the direction of where the rest of the procession had gone.

"You never could bring yourselves to trust anyone, even back then," Rogue said to Jeanette once everyone else was close enough to see, but still out of earshot. He was silent for a second. "I suppose that isn't fair—Mattie put quite a bit of trust into us at one point—but other than that…"

Jeanette wasn't sure of what she was supposed to think of that. Mattie never trusted anyone, and it had taken weeks for Jeanette to convince the pink-haired girl to let her in on her travels at all.

"You both seem to think this whole deal is unfair, but if you had just trusted us enough to have been fair, then you wouldn't be in this mess in the first place," Rogue murmured.

Unsure of what to do in response, Jeanette stared off in the distance. Rogue quickened his pace again and managed to catch up to the others. Rufus, sensing their presence, turned around. His expression took a more confused tone as he noticed Jeanette.

"What happened?" Rufus asked. Minerva, Orga, and Sting turned around to look at Rogue with varying inquiring gazes as well.

"I'm not entirely sure, she probably sprained her ankle Christmas Eve," Rogue quietly replied. Orga snorted and continued on, while Rufus and Sting followed behind, indifferent. Minerva glared at Jeanette. "You could have mentioned this _before_ you whittled down my good time last night," she seethed, spinning around and clomping off in her heels. Mattie bit her lip and followed. Jeanette could sense Mattie's disapproval, but felt she had done the right thing.

"Is that the place?" Orga asked Rufus, pointing to a building looming over the rest in the distance.

"Yeah, that's the Magic Council's headquarters," Rufus affirmed, his face buried in the map. It looked exactly like Jeanette had earlier pictured, and she was glad to not have to walk up the steps, although she worried about how Rogue was going to handle them.

Tired, Jeanette rested her head on Rogue's shoulder. Rogue tensed up, and she recoiled. It probably wasn't the best idea to rest now, considering the situation ahead. Unsure of what she should expect upon entering the building, Jeanette hoped it wouldn't be too much of a fuss. It seemed like it had been ages since she had last been left alone, and Jeanette hoped that she could get a couple minutes to herself. Her journal needed to be updated.

Jeanette McIntosh stared at the building in the distance, which was getting closer by the step.

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**End of Chapter 9**

**I've been trying to make the chapters a bit longer, did you guys notice?**

**ACK. I was rereading this, and noticed that in one of the earlier chapters, I accidentally put "Jeanette Pfieffer" as her name. It's Jeanette McIntosh and Mattie Pfieffer, sorry if that confused you. I was going to fix it, but the chapter isn't on Doc Manager anymore… *sob***

**So sorry this took so long, I really need to put more effort into this. I hope to have Chapter 10 out sooner than later, reviews are so much appreciated, and thank you so much for reading! **


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